Continuously phasing since 1996

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Books, Papa Murphy’s pizza (we didn’t think ahead and take out some of my frozen homemade dough) and tea. A cosy night.

I’m on Advil for womanly cramps so I don’t know how my arm is doing. Tomorrow I will torch sans pain blockers and see.

I had a lovely time at brunch today with some local women, we go out to eat every now and then. Then a friend from Livejournal came over and she made her first beads. I have never tried to teach anyone to lampwork before…I hope I did well. She had fun, but I hope I imparted information that was helpful.

This weekend is our Halloween getaway with 20+ friends here. Last year I did this and was reading The Tightwad Gazette and dreaming of my job ending. Here I am a year later. The question “what do you do?” is no longer “web designer.” Now it’s “Glass artist and Tour Manager/Whatever is Needed for Thomas Dolby.”

The deal with the universe is going as planned. I make WAY less money than I did a year ago. But all that living I have done in this year! The money thing is tough and it will get tougher before it gets easier. DLJ is so wonderful to support me in all this.

So with Halloween being THIS coming weekend for me, I must work on that costume. That means a trip to used clothing stores and the like this week.

It’s going to be a busy one. I have already been in the studio this morning, making some yummy stuff, I hope!

I have my massage in an hour, then it’s dropping off videos, farmer’s market, and going to a local nursery. Since we think the main reason for the leaks is the chopped down tree between my house and a neighbor, therefore allowing all that runoff to go to my home, DLJ and I want to replant something over there to take up water in roots. Something that can take the water, a lot of it…but can also handle dry periods, as we don’t really use that side of the house and having to tend it is not the most efficient thing.

Also, dinner has to be made, and I need to work on a spread sheet for TD tour work. And drop of a check at a friend’s.

Blurry bizzy!

It’s good to be back in the studio. I need to get some jewelry made, and get some auctions going again. Going on tour kind of jarred the rhythm of it all…but I’m back and need to get kickin’. It’s hard to sort the glass…make it for auction, make it for bead show in Feb? Make it for store in Oregon that wants to buy wholesale? Dizzyfying. Anyway. Good to be home and I just need to get a schedule going with all the projects. Today when I finish errands I will likely lay out some glass coasters I need to make for a store in Illinois.

A large cement mixer has shown up next door, where the neighbor is installing a new driveway. At our block party, we played cribbage and he encouraged me to ask him to play again. I have wanted to but actually feel thwarted by the rebar, gravel and men with tools to cross the moat of the developing driveway. Also, their cars have not been around at all so I don’t know if they are even here.

Next week is the one-week Dolby mini tour. A lot of flying for less than a week away, but I’ll do it, by gum. I wish teleportation was figured out, I do not know why flying bothers me so,but it does and I dislike that almost as much as I dislike planes. I’m going on tour with Thomas Dolby! How cool is that? Instead I just wish for the wheels to be touched down back in Portland already, and that is no way to really live a life.

I redid juiceglass.com and it needs some more tweaking, some old pages still need to get into the new format. But it’s looking better. I started a small blog over there, too, there is nothing in it yet. I have too many blogs. But these days it is a good market tool to have one…so I will try to write twice a week in there strictly about my art.

Today I have a letter to write, two orders to get in the mail, a draft of a letter to a store that wants to carry my beads and consign my jewelry, and of course, time in the studio. I will get dinner going in a crockpot around 11, and I need to start getting a nice itinerary done for the tour for the crew. That’s enough for a day, don’t you think? I should clean my bathroom as well.

Ok, not really, but it feels like it. I have so much on my plate. One step at a time.

*big breath*

I got my second article into The Annealer Magazine for editing, so that’s done.
I finished a large commission today, a necklace and bracelet that are full of beads all the way around. Phew! I will have pictures soon.

My entry into the e-merge contest at Bullseye is completed and submitted.

I’ve started booking flights for the first week of the Dolby tour in Sept.

I had a mild crisis of sorts yesterday, so much to do and not wanting to deal with it all. The tour will eat up so much time. I know I will have fun and get paid and such but I will miss DLJ, miss the cats, miss the torch, and now, miss time to create inventory for…..

The 2007 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which is also an incredibly LARGE bead show. I have been invited to be there as an exhibitor. Since I made a rule with myself to try to only participate in things that are juried, I accepted. I didn’t apply, they found me.

This far, out, I do have time to make inventory, but all of Nov. will be gone, and half Dec. Prime bead making time. I just have to suck it up and keep moving. But it kind of drives me crazy when I think of all the work involved with everything I have my hands in, at once. While still trying to be a good wife.

I have a small glass show tomorrow. I am supposed to do one mid-Sept. but I think I have to let it go if I want to stay sane. I will take care of that today. I also need to mail off the above necklace and bracelet and ship something to Japan. Japan! That’s the other thing. My stuff will be sold in Japan through an online department store of sorts. A Japanese version of juiceglass.com is being built. So there’s THAT, too.

I am applying to my first art contest today. It’s taking awhile, with the photos, the descriptions, the uploading, the optimizing. Maybe it’s so time consuming lots of other people will not apply! HAHA.
Doubtful. I don’t know if I have much of a chance, though this is a contest for beginner to intermediates…so I hope to have a real chance here, especially since within that qualification there is the “newcomer” section, which I also fit into, though this is the last year that I will, in terms of time spent in the glass discipline.

I have coffee with chocolate soy milk, and a few more photos to take. Then I will clean the house and start working on at least one other project, or two. One is a commission, the other is for another contest.
The days go by so fast for me. Everyday when I wake up I lay there and try to sort out my day, what to do when. There is always so much to do. Any illusions I had about lazy mornings with coffee in the garden or reading books in the shade are pretty much gone. =) Not that I had them, really. I knew I would treat each weekday like a regular workday, which they are. But at this rate I won’t get through the Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell book by the time it is due back, let alone Pride and Prejudice which is still just riding around in the back of my car.

I am out at the Oregon coast today, I have been since driving out on Monday. It was a nice drive, fleeing the heat, on a late Monday morning, getting closer and closer to the blue skyline of mountains that lay in front of me. Mom and I will go out to day to a pottery and glass place nearby, and a local organic farm. We all just walked back from a local coffee place, and I am very excited, they agreed to sell some of my glass jewelry there! It’s a small place, but they do show a lot of local artists, and will open a second store/roastery soon, so I am thrilled to see how my stuff works in the small store. I will bring some of my plates and bowls and coasters too, for him to see, but I will be selling just the jewelry this time around. How exciting!

We saw so many whales yesterday, they are doing more than just surfacing and blowing, they are laying on their sides waving flippers out of the water.

DLJ is getting his brain expanded in California. I miss him, but am glad he is taking a Filemaker Pro class to better his knowledge. I wish his company would let him do more of that. He will be home on Saturday. Tomorrow I go home back towards Portland, and have dinner with someone on my favorite discussion list that I have been on since 1995. Friday is the Japanese Garden party in Portland, and I very much am looking forward to that event.

Then I will start getting my things planned, made, and selected to bring back out here in the next two weeks.

I will be hiding most of the day downstairs. But I need to get some honey ice cream started. I made a bunch of beads recently, and took photos this morning so there will be more glass porn soon! =)

Last week was my birthday, and it was a lot of fun going camping with DLJ. We swam in a river, hiked, read books, and had good camping food. I hope we manage to go again this year before Fall, but August is SO crazy. I don’t even know if I can handle all that I signed up for. There’s a block party, 4 days away at Glass Stock on the coast, and then starting to rev up for Thomas’ fall tour…and more glass and beads, and DLJ has to go away to Bend, OR, overnight and wants to visit family at the end of the month of August…he is also gone next week doing Filemaker training. I might go to a party at the Portland Japanese Garden by myself while he is gone.

SO BUSY. Phew.

One thing at a time. Right now, that’s making honey ice cream. Here I go.

Today I have been for a lovely walk in the early morning sun, sipping from the carton of chocolate soy milk I took along with me. I walked along the nearby school grounds, the large sprinklers chit-chit-chitting across the grass. I have errands to run as soon as the remodel boys show up. I think I will work on some fusing projects this afternoon once errands are complete.

Today is a camping day! DLJ and I took some time off for July to go, but we are going today with our friends J and B. J and B were on tour with me, and they are staying with us while they figure out what they are doing next. They will go to NYC/Spain/England for a month-ish to help out some friends, and J will work on Dolby’s NYC and England show dates. We will watch some of their stuff while they are gone.
So today we are going to drive out to Bagby Hot Springs. J and B are going first, I will pick up DLJ from work and then we will follow. Camping! So what if it is raining/cloudy! We have a small canopy and tents and we will be just fine. I am looking forward to a couple days away with friends, and Bagby looks quite nice. I think it will be really good for DLJ, too. Next week the guys come back to re-dig up the side of the yard for the third time, I will be making glass and painting, and writing. It’s sure good to have my computer back.